NEW YORK -- This season, the average Major League pitcher is hitting .132.
So it almost never comes as a surprise when a National League ballclub elects to use a designated hitter when it visits an American League park, as the Giants will Friday night. But Friday is one of those rare situations that a team is questioned for not factoring its pitcher into the lineup with Giants star Madison Bumgarner and his 13 career home runs on the mound.
Giving Bumgarner at-bats in an AL park isn't wholly unprecedented; the All-Star hit for himself in Oakland on June 30.